Definition order should match declaration order?

[Evan Stade]

Hi all,

I think we generally recommend that the definition order for class methods (in a .cc file) should match declaration order for that class's methods (in the .h file, often). However I can't actually find this guidance in the Google or Chromium C++ style guide. Is it in there somewhere?

I see no reason not to follow this rule when adding new code (although if it's not in the style guide, I guess that means it's up to the author), but is it worth it to reorder existing code to fix this issue? Moving methods around obfuscates git history so I'm not sure it's as worth it in that situation.

WDYT?

-- Evan Stade

[dan...@chromium.org]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 5:07 PM Evan Stade <est...@chromium.org> wrote:

Hi all,

I think we generally recommend that the definition order for class methods (in a .cc file) should match declaration order for that class's methods (in the .h file, often). However I can't actually find this guidance in the Google or Chromium C++ style guide. Is it in there somewhere?

It was removed from the Google style guide some years ago.

 

I see no reason not to follow this rule when adding new code (although if it's not in the style guide, I guess that means it's up to the author), but is it worth it to reorder existing code to fix this issue? Moving methods around obfuscates git history so I'm not sure it's as worth it in that situation.

Grouping things that work together may make more sense than by visibility, so I think it depends.

 

WDYT?

-- Evan Stade

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[K. Moon]

I agree with danakj@, and I would also advocate for not reordering existing files unless the owners of the file intended to maintain that ordering (and any existing violations were merely an oversight). I value preserving blame history over consistency between declaration and definition order.

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